Archie: A Rock 'n' Roll Romance

Archie & Friends All-Stars #22

by Dan Parent

It's the greatest rock 'n' roll romance in history! Betty and Veronica have some competition when Valerie, the bassist for Josie & the Pussycats, moves to Riverdale! Take a stroll down Riverdale's now-famous Memory Lane along with Valerie and see what life would be like if she married Archie! Their future is sure to be full of surprises, challenges, and musical interludes as they deal with rock band drama, reality TV and their respective careers. Will Archie and Valerie make beautiful music together? PLUS: Valerie's not the only musician in her family! Meet Trev, her older brother who sings his way right into Betty's heart! It all happens in the critically acclaimed Archie Marries Valerie storyline, available for the first time ever in graphic novel form.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Romance, Fiction, Comic Book, Young Adult

103 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 5, 2013

About the author

Dan Parent is an American comic book artist and writer best known for his work for Archie Comics.

Reviews

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Archie Andrews starts dating Valerie of Josie and the Pussycats, what will happen to their respective bands, not to mention their lives?

Since I'm a huge sucker whenever the Archie website has a sale, I snapped this up. With Dan Parent art plus Josie and the Pussycats, how could I lose?

This is the best classic style Archie book I've read in forever. In a Marvel What If style tale, Valerie and Archie start dating and events ripple out from there. Bands break up, new members join bands, kids are born, etc.

One of the things I loved about this is that it focused on Valerie instead of Archie, the obvious moneymaker of Archie comics. Telling the story from Archie's point of view would have been a slam dunk but Dan Parent went the extra mile and told it from Valerie's, making for a far better story.

Dan Parent doesn't get enough credit for his art chops. His characters are still drawn in the Dan DeCarlo style but he's nudging the style forward quite a bit. He uses more modern panel arrangements and some modern coloring techniques, although he doesn't overdo it.

Archie: A Rock N Roll Romance is the best classic style Archie book I've ever read. Five out of five stars.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another for the Book Bingo - A Graphic Novel. I will admit that I haven't read any since my girls were little and we read the Scooby comics together. This was a pleasant break from my other reading.

[Julio Bonilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our little musical prodigy!

Josie and The Pussycats are in town. One of the trio, Valerie, is engaged to Archie. How will Josie & The Pussycats keep playing without her? Valerie has some thinking to do... Veronica will be devastated that she won't be able to hang out with Archie anymore.

I read it today inside my car after having seen Nope. Sometimes I buy Archie Comics by Dan Parent, but this was my first time reading a graphic novel. This is a tale of What if? Reading rocks!!

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute domestic story - Valerie imagines what life would be like if she and Archie got married, including what would happen to their respective bands.

[Madeleine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Despite featuring my favorite Archie-verse ship (Val/Archie forever!!!), this was just kind of bleh. I guess the toothache-inducing tone of the "classic" era is much less my style than the new era.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

My daughter is watching Riverdale, so she brought this home from the library. It was fun - speculation about what might happen in a potential marriage between Valerie and Archie. Apparently there were similar volumes written with Betty and with Veronica. I hadn’t read Archie since I was a kid and my older cousins would leave the original Archie comics at my grandmother’s house. A nice walk down memory lane for this mom.

[Rajie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know it's so much the PLOT that would make you read this one... It's more the nostalgia. I felt like my 11 year old self, seeing characters I haven't seen in years. Val's not the only one who walked down memory lane on this one!

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

The storytelling gets too cute and too shallow at times, but there are some interesting ideas. I think the biggest problem is that they didn't really sell why Valerie and Archie were so into each other, but you could make the same case about why Betty and Veronica are so into him.

[Ezma · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little more interesting than the other one, mostly because it's just having fun spinning a wild what-if story. Cops out with the ending, though, especially when it gets to "well we could do these with ANY Archie girl, really!" because it cheapens the actual story.

[Madame Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

A cute love story with Archie and Valerie.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute and fun but totally derailed at the end in a way that was pretty overwhelming and not terribly satisfying. Also why are so many girls so gaga over Archie lol

[Bee Ostrowsky · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found nothing funny or insightful here, just a “let’s take a look at one possible future... or maybe several” bottle episode.

[The_J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Choppy story, with an odd fascination with mixed race couples.

[Nicolas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really good! I've read a lot of Archie digests, but this is one of the few extended stories that I've read. I always like Josie & the Pussycats so it was fun to see the whole gang together. I liked Archie & Valerie together. My only complaint was the frame story. I would have preferred a straight-up "What If" story so that we could have had a more satisfying ending.

For more on my favorite Archie Comics tune in to this episode of Comic Book Coffee Break: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QucL7...

[Kazi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes...I used to love these when I was a kid...what happened, is it me? Revisiting sacred childhood books is always fraught with danger, but I find it hard to believe these were always so trite. The drawings are as good as ever, if not better, but I can't help but remember better story lines. Hopefully it's just this issue.

[Jacob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Public library copy.

[Melissa Middleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly recommended read if you're an Archie fan.

[Johnny Tentoes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Val has always been my favorite Pussycat, so having Archie choose her over Betty & Veronica makes total sense to me.

[Fransciolla78 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love Archie, and I know the comics have always been a little corny. That's part of the appeal! But this was just sooooo cheesy, I'm not a fan of the "what if Archie married X?" plots. (I had started reading The Married Life years ago, but gave up because I hated it.) It was also way too simple, I read this entire book in the time it took me to eat a bowl of cereal. The art is colourful and fantastic, but it's lacking in plot.

I probably should have read a summary or something, because I honestly thought this was a book about how their relationship started, not a hypothetical story about their marriage.

[Sally · Rating 2 out of 5]

Feeling nostalgic, bought this at Big Bad Wolf.

I haven't read Archie comics since my university days 10 years ago. I guess this is the new Archie comic. It has reference to twitters and there is a bit difference in the character's personalities, more adult.

I am not too fond of it. It is lacking the mischief that usually appear on archie comics. I wanted to see Betty and Veronica fight for Archie's attention or the arrogance of Veronica showing off her wealth, the sweetness of Betty as the girl next door type, or jughead funny obsession with food.

Maybe this is just the wrong comic. I still enjoy reading it though.

[Malli (Chapter Malliumpkin) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Other creators involved in the making of this comic inclued: Inking by Rich Koslowski, Letters by Jack Morelli, and Coloring by Digikore Studios

The following review is based off my own opinions, thoughts and reactions. So in other words be respectful. *You have been advised in advance.*

Content Warning: Toxic jealousy and obsession

For fans of the original Archie comics and for lovers of Riverdale, we finally get a designated comic about Valerie and Archie! A long awaited book and romance away from the traditional feud between Betty & Veronica over Archie-kins! We join all the original gang; Bettey, Archie, Jugghead, Veronica, with appearances of Reggie, the Pussycat Dolls, Dilton, Cheryl Blossom, and a cameo with Sabrina the Teenage Witch. We follow the classic love triangle between our three favorite characters, but get rocked like never before when Valerie shows up to shake things up! Archie and Val aren’t the only ones getting close and cozy in this graphic novel. Get ready for some major lovin’ happening as we dive into the Riverdale realm once again!

“With Valerie’s family in Riverdale, she’ll have even more reason to be here! Closer to our Archie!”

Growing up, the Archie comics were one of my go-to reads! I remember every weekend my mother and I would go out early to the store to pick up some things and I would grab one of the comics at checkout! Now that I’m older, I’ve been hit with a terrible case of nostalgia and really wanted to pick up an Archie comic once again. However, revisiting old memories and sacred childhood books has always been like flipping a coin. It can go fifty-fifty with me either loving it like I always did or I end up in shock and completely disliking it. I find myself hesitant to admit this, but for once, I’m not in love with an Archie comic.



Now don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of aspects of this comic that I really enjoyed. The artwork of this comic is absolutely gorgeous just as I remember the comics use to be. They’re bright, pop with life, and draw the reader to each page. If I had to choose a world that I wanted to live in, this would be one of the worlds I would want to be a part of! Plus, it really gives off a homely old time vibe which is so nostalgic for me as I come from a small town. It really gives me a piece of home that I miss deeply. And a side note, the added sketches in the back were an amazing bonus that had me in love!

This comic also gives interracial relationship representation. Of course we have Archie and Valerie, but the author also gave us the relationship between Betty and Trev (Valerie’s brother). I love that we got to have two relationships out of this book, but I also love the fact that we got the interracial couples representation that isn’t too often talked about in books. I also love the fact that both relationships felt very sincere and in some senses, realistic. The author really put in the method of supporting one another while building the relationship between Val and Archie as well as Trev and Betty. Although, there were times where it felt too lovey dovey to the point of pushing the line between realistic and unrealistic relationships. Plus, seeing that cute and adorable musical family dynamic was such a blessing. I was absolutely in love with that added content! Although, I wasn’t a particular fan of adding the “child star” element into this story and it turned me off from the whole family dynamic as a whole.

“Well this show might be ending, but our new adventure is just beginning! e’re starting our own music school!”

I even loved the way the author ended this comic. The author really added that life lesson of”living in the now instead of the future” wisdom. Out of this whole book, this stuck out to me the most because it’s such great wisdom that isn’t too often acted out or even thought about in the world today. It felt like a nice reminder and refresher to stop and smell the flowers , to just take in everything that happening right now instead of having your mind far too ahead to see what’s in front of the face. It was such a great and sweet way to end this comic.

Unfortunately, even with all these there were a lot of things I had issues with and things that made it really hard to love this graphic novel as a whole. As a fan of the original comics and being familiar with how a lot of them played out, this comic definitely felt it was lacking or habits that were hard to get into.

My biggest issue I had with this comic was the plot. Most Archie comics were always plot driven or had a story-line to it. However, there was no real plot to this graphic novel. The beginning starts off strong, but that’s where it ends. After the whole “what if Archie was married” concept into the graphic novel (which wasn’t bad at first), but the author took into into a whole spin of “what if Archie was married to X” plots. At this point, it became super easy to lose interest in it and to become detached from anything happening to the characters. As I said previously, the ending was sweet and ended with some wisdom, but outside of the first chapter and the last two pages of the ending, everything in the entire middle was lacking.



Also, the way this cover is design definitely gives off the wrong impression. I had originally picked up this comic thinking this was going to be a romantic backstory of how Valerie and Archie got into a relationship, how they fell in love, etc…, but this isn’t the case. Even the synopsis is very vague and implies how their relationship came to be. However, the contents of this graphic novel aren’t based off a backstory. It starts out like it’s building to a backstory, but the actual “story-line” doesn’t lead into any history between Archie and Val.

Another issue I had with this comic was the way Veronica was portrayed. While in past comics she has never been a true saint, her personality was never taken to a point where she was being a terrible person, treating everyone horribly, and her nearly disposing of the engagement ring. The author made her super toxic to the point of readers who are fans of her would turn away because of how much she was cast in a negative light. All of this whole “she a the villain of the story” was a complete turn off. The author not only did this with Veronica, but also two other characters who ever really had the “villain” personality archetype. This was a major turn off that was so cringey and almost too hard to read through.

“So make the most of this day ad make it extraordinary!”

Overall, there were elements in this story that I loved and adored. As much as I liked the family dynamic, seeing the couples, the bonus sketches in the back, and the small cameo with Sabrina, all of these things weren’t enough to make me love this comic. Too many things fell short for me and let the taste of wanting more or something lacking. I probably should have read a summary or something because I honestly thought this was a book about how their relationship started, not a hypothetical story about their marriage. As a fan of the original Archie comics, this was definitely a sour note compared to the graphic novels I used to read once upon a time.

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